Today we welcome Assemblymember Cristina Garcia. Garcia represents the 58th district and is the chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus. We discuss her run for Congress, overcoming the challenges within her community, the bills that she has introduced in the CA State Assembly, and more.

We welcome Assemblymember Cristina Garcia of the 58th Assembly District to the program. The 58th district covers southeast Los Angeles County, including her hometown of Bell Gardens. We start quickly, jumping right in with a discussion of AB 1, how she got the first bill of the new session together, why reforming the department of toxic substances control is important, and why she thinks her bill will succeed this session. Then we discuss her background before turning to a conversation about covid. She relates stories from her district, how residents are seeing disproportionate infections and death due to working in low wage and the longtime environmental issues in southeastern LA county and residents are having to choose between unemployment and food insecurity, and why assistance will be a priority during the next session. Finally, on a more upbeat note, we discuss her becoming chair of the women’s caucus, her free menstrual products proposal, her “there ought to be a law” contest and her advice to new legislators.